breaking news. >> all right. good morning, everyone. welcome to your new day. alisyn is off, erica hill joins me and we do begin with breaking news in the race for president. the democratic field in the hunt for 2020 getting bigger. a big new entry as of this second, new jersey senator kory booker is making it official. he is running for president. >> we want to go straight to cnn's rebecca who is live near booker's home in newark, new jersey, with more on these breaking details. rebecca. >> reporter: that's right. we're here in newark, the city that launched cory booker's career as mayor some years ago. today he's takes that next big step to run for president. and he picked a symbolic day to do it. this is the first day of black history month. booker is the second african-american candidate to jump into this democratic primary after senator kamala harris and is he putting that

harris tag front a heritage front and center not only because he will be targeting african-american voters but it's a key part of his own personal story. in the announcement today, booker nods to that history. his parents struggled to buy a home in a white, affluent neighborhood and a white lawyer who helped them to do so because he was inspired by martin luther king and the civil rights movement. booker says in his announcement that courage is contagious, it's part of the optimistic message he's hoping to bring to this presidential primary. i want you to look at his announcement video. >> i believe that we can build a country where no one is forgotten, no one is left behind. where parents can put food on the table, where there are good-paying jobs with good benefits in every neighborhood. where our criminal justice system keeps us safe instead

shuffling children into cages and coffins. where we see the faces of our leaders on television and feel pride, not shame. it is not a matter of can we, it's a matter of do we have the collective will, the american will? i believe we do. together we will channel our common pain back into our common purpose. together, america, we will rise. i'm cory booker and i'm running for president of the united states of america. >> so today cory booker answering one question, will he run for president? and the next question, how will he fair in this crowded democratic primary? one of the mott diverse in history if not the most diverse in history. one advantage he could have is that he has a rau political talent the democrats point to. one of the challenges, this is a year of the woman. woman candidates running. he's going to go on the view today for his first interview after he rolls out his campaign and then off to iowa, south

carolina, and new hampshire in the weeks to come. >> rebecca buck for us in new jersey. cory booker announces he's running for president. certainly one of the more anticipated announcements in this 2020 race. let's bring in cnn senior political reporter nia-malika henderson, van jones, host of the van jones show, jackie kucinich, and john avlon here as well. van, i want to start with you here. where does cory booker fit in this new crowded field, and i don't think it's any coincidence at all that senator booker is announcing on february 1st, the beginning of black history month and some of his first radio interviews will be with the likes of tom joiner and extremely maybe the most popular african-american radio host. >> well, time joiner certainly that. first of all, i have to say i've known cory booker for almost 25 years. i graduated from yale law school in spring of '93. he showed up in the fall of '93 and took the entire law school

over. i'm so glad i got out about the cory booker phenomenon took over the yale law school. just his raw political talent. he's a force to be reckoned with. cory booker is a force of nature. he has -- no one sis surprised he's running. don't forget, he left yale law school, could have gone anywhere in the world, went to newark new jersey, moved into the poorest neighborhood and ban the most improbable climb from working with folks in housing projects to living in a housing projects and working for the united states. he's not a normal person, not a normal candidate. he's somebody who brings an extra gear when it comes to energy and empathy and you'll see this throughout the rest of his campaign. >> nia, i heard you in the background saying he's not a normal candidate. van describing him as a force of

nature. where does he fit in in this increasingly crowded field? >> i think van thihits on great points. you can see it in the introductory interview, he's got the marching band. it feels very young and fresh. cory booker is someone people have known about for years. if you go back to 2002 there was a "new york times" magazine article that said he would likely be the first black president that. was in 2002. of course now he's trying to be the second black president. i think his path looks a lot like obama's. in many ways kamala harris's does too, not only that you do well with african-american voters, young voters, as well as women. these are people who occupying the same lane in many ways and it's not just because they're african american, it's because they're fresh faces and they've already zeroed in on key constituencies and have some sway with them. the interesting thing about booker is he was doing a lot of things that we see bait toe

o'rourke doing now, the things that we see aoc doing, heavy on twitter and instagram and social media and energizing young folks. we'll see if he can keep thand co that spirit alive in this race. he has been around so long, if he can keep that freshness going forward in this race. >> his social media has been around for a long time. he was early on in that. >> yeah. >> it was practically before social media. cory booker predates the social media game and helped usher it in. jackie noted this is easily the most diverse candidate we have ever seen. we can pick up the pictures of the people who have already announced and/or are exploring. you have five women, you have a latino in julian castro, you have the mayor buttigieg who is gay in the say very diverse field already. >> that's why we're talking a lot about lanes because we're

going to have a lot of these candidates competing for the same people. you talk about kamala harris and cory booker, there's been reporting they've been reporting there's various members of the black caucus in the house. cory booker has made criminal justice reform a part of his being, right? he just helped push it through the senate. kamala harris is going -- that's going to be a big point of contention between the two of them because of her role as a prosecutor, as the ag when she was in california. i think we'll hear a lot of exchanges between the two of them about that issue in particular, because that's going to be one of the ways they try separate themselves from -- in the lane that they're both in. >> there's been a lot of talk about taking certain voting blocks, certain demographics for granted as we know over the last number of years. and john, one of the things that stood out to me, we were talking to michael a short time ago and asking him what his listeners were saying about this growing field. he was saying that people were calling in saying i'm a minority caller and i want you to know kamala harris should not be

taking my vote for granted just because of who i am. and that's an important reminder too is we're seeing that courting is important, but people are people and they won't more, they don't want just a one dimensional candidate. >> of course. it's time as a country we have this incredibly diverse field of the folks already running, the straight white guys think there there's one candidate right now. that speaks to the evolution of american politics and the democratic party. but it speaks about the need to transcend our tribalism and the ethic algra bra doesn't work so much as being a compelling candidate with a great message and record. and cory booker, as you heard him say, this is something who have laid expectations early on. people usually don't get a "new york times" interviews. >> nonsuccessful. >> nonsuccessful mayoral race. you get a sense of that trajectory, he has executive experience, that's a important

dlir differentiator. we have more mayors than governors in the race. he has lowered unemployment, lowered crime, but there was the criticism from his successor. did you see the more on meet the press than in the streets toward the end of his term. that's one of the things, he's been a media figurehead for so long, can he keep that freshness and energy? but is he a raw talent that really stands out in any political field. >> i think he backed off a lot of the media ever aught last four over the last four or five years in anticipation of getting in this race. van, i've heard you say no one should assume that any one voter or voting block is going to follow any one candidate for any run reason. cory booker, complicated, interesting, as you said. he also, if he's been criticized for something it's for being too close to wall street, right? he is a senator from new jersey. this is an interesting year to running with elizabeth warren and other very critical of wall street. cory booker is someone who has

seen to be close to financial interests. >> i think one of the reasons why in addition to his personal passion for the issue that he's leaned to hard on criminal justice reform is because it is, you know, a very, very strong progressive value that rounds out the picture of cory booker. cory booker really was that guy who would -- in the morning he might be in the community center in newark talking to the poorest kids in new jersey and that after mean it might be on wall street talking to some of the richest people in the world and then back in newark. and basically with the same message to both constituents. but if you just grab him on the wall street side you can do some damage to him with this democratic naert do democratic party that does not like wall street. cory booker can sometimes be characterized as being too close to that so-called 1%. this may not be the year for that. so you're going to see him go

very hard with the black community, he's going to go very hard on criminal justice reform, he's going to go very hard on his common touch which he does have with ordinary people. but is he going to catch fire. he's going to catch some flak from the left of our party. >> i can just say one thing, though? when you're mayor of newark, he brought major investment into downtown newark. that was part of his job and it is hard to do. big companies weren't coming into newark and he helped turn that around and that involves reaching out to wall street and big corporations. so that hit on him from the activist class, i get it. but did he his job in mayor in doing that outreach. >> he's going to -- there's an interview i think he gave in 2012, might have been on meet the press, where he criticizes the approach that the obama campaign is making to mitt romney and beating up on venture capitalists and that's going to come back to him. he called it naus eighting the way that the obama allies and obama was attacking mitt romney. that's certainly going to come back and haunt him. we'll see how that plays. but all mixed up, he is somebody that's electrifying. between him and elizabeth

warren, those are the folks who really send a buzz through the crowd. people want to touch them. people want to be around them. that's something that i think will serve him really well, particularly in a state like iowa, particularly in a state like new hampshire where you are in those living rooms talking to people, telling your story and trying to connect with them. we'll see what happens obviously on south carolina, with african-american women being a really important voting block there as well as african-american men and white women as well. he has to prove he can do well with white voters. that's the way that obama was able to persuade black voters that he could win a general election. so that trip to iowa for cory booker is going to be incredibly important as well as the work that he's doing in south carolina. he's already trying to amass a talented team down there, talk to folks down there. he's going to have a real blockbuster team in south carolina as well as the others. >> jackie, interesting, too, iowa, obviously, we know iowa is going to be on the stop. but sherrod brown in iowa just talking about trying to be the

more populous candidate here if he decides to jump in. how much of that is a focus for these other candidates who are already in? i mean, this is really straddling a line between being that progressive part of the party, right? >> right. >> and not losing the appeal to a more mainstream voter, being a more populous candidate? >> yeah, it seems like sherrod brown is more in the joe biden category. >> right. >> of a candidate. and because of that he's reaching out to a lot of people who have walked away from the democratic party, which is kind of the old model. especially when you talk to some of the more progressive candidates, they want to build the base, grow the base, they want to get more african americans out, they want more young people out. where sherrod brown seems to be appealing, not that he's not trying to appeal to those people, but he's a democrat from northeastern ohio who opposed nafta on the front end. it's those workers that their factories have closed that donald trump won. he's trying to bring them back home to the democratic party. whether he'll be able to do that

is an open question. >> but could a cory booker too? i'm looking more could cory booker bring those people back into the fold? what does he have that could win them over to his side? >> that's an open question, it really is. that's going to be one of his challenges. >> it's interesting, one of the open questions is democrats try to decide -- just one second, van, on what happened in 60, you know, cha what do you say snore it the white working class that didn't vote for hillary clinton or turnout was down in milwaukee and philadelphia? and those were two different analysis that were run in 2016 and how they can bridge that gap and address those deficits. >> could be both and that's what sherrod brown is trying to argue. van, go ahead. >> i was going to say one thing. one thing about sherrod brown is that he is an unusual candidate in that he's for the white working class, but he's never allowed himself to be defined by that in that when he talks about workers he talks about african americans, he talks about all kinds of, you know, different folks. and he's also -- he was, you know, as we said, had the right

position on everything from the war to the right position for a liberal democrat from the war to women's issues, et cetera. i think cory booker, he's not been tested yet in those waters, sort of industrial heartland water, you know. can you see cory book we are a hard hat on and pull that offly? don't know. you haven't seen him try those kind of things yet. that's going to be the big test for him. the other big test for him is going into south carolina, you're going to see a heavyweight battle between kamala harris and cory booker for the black vote. >> and biden. if biden gets in too, bide aens got strong ties in south carolina. he hasn't been as active down there already in terms of telling people what he's going to do and wait on the sidelines. one of the things about obama is he did have that ability to go into those working-class, white-working-class communities partly because he was an noir, a

americaner, but he would good on factory floors and be very comfortable there. he did very well with those workers. it doesn't take a white man to be able to go in and talk to those midwestern white working class folks in the midwest. >> one thing i would point out in 2020, elizabeth warren has announced she has a big announcement to make. it seems to me they're feeling like they have to get in soon if they're going to get in. i think every day, every few days we're going to be hearing from more and more of them. stick around we have a lot more to discuss. president trump talking to the "new york times." his definitive answer about his discussions with roger stone next. ♪ did you know you can save money by using dish soap to clean grease on more than dishes?

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you'd laugh. oh, ow. [ chuckles ] you'd cry. look, look, look, look, look, look, look,. maybe even laugh while crying. what the fertilizer? sounds pretty great, right? riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight! just say, "add epix" and it can all be yours. it's easy to upgrade. and you don't want to miss out on everything epix. in a new wide-ranging interview with "the new york times," president trump talks about the russia investigation that continues to loom over his presidency. >> well, he told -- he told the attorneys that i'm not a subject -- i'm not a target -- yeah. oh, yeah. >> did he saying anything about the nsdy investigation?

because there's too, mueller and coen. >> i don't know about. that, i don't know about. >> let's bring back john avlon, van jones, jackie kucinich. it was interesting the word choice that we can't ignore. van, let's call on those law school credentials. he's saying i was told, rosenstein told my attorneys ways not a target, i was not a subject. those two words very important. just remind us, what's the difference? >> well, i mean, he's trying to say that he is not the target of a criminal investigation. he's not himself personally under -- under threat of being indicted for crimes even though of course he's president there's no -- the department of justice has said it doesn't have the authority do that. but first of all, back up for a second. you got too give trump some credit to have maggie haberman come into the office and talk to him. she has been one of the toughest critics of the administration. she's somehow, i don't know what

she's got, she's got 27 sources inside the building. i don't know how she does it. she gets stuff out of that building almost nobody else does. the last person you'd expect him to sit down and talk to he brings her in. i want to point out when i heard that maggie haberman was going to the white house i wasn't sure they were going to let her back out she's been that tough on the president. congratulations for her to get that face-to-face interview on the record and tape. he's trying to squig will and wiggle his way out and try to suggest he's not in many harm when in fact even if you are not the direct target of a criminal investigation, you can still find all of your associates can be in a ton of trouble and ultimately you can get drug into trouble because what ultimately people say when they crack under -- when the actual targets crack under pressure, you can then find yourself in real trouble anyway. >> and it was also interesting, i don't know whether he meant to say he was told he was not a subject of this investigation. he slipped that in there. and the difference there is, you know, target means they are investigating you and your criminal activity and, you know,

expecting to press charges. subject means you may be involved in activity that they are investigating but they don't have yet enough evidence to press charges against you and then there's a discussion about whether a president could ever be the target of a criminal investigation because a president can't be indicted. all of that is open here. the most interesting thing he might have said there, nia, was that i don't know if i'm the target or the subject of the investigation from the southern district of new york. a federal investigation which is sending michael cohen to jail and which has already indicated in writing they think the president may have been involved in breaking campaign finance laws. >> and that's an investigation that not only involves michael cohen, it also involves the cfo from donald trump's organization. i think his name is alan weisselberg as well as david pecker who's over the "national enquirer." it's hard to know what you can believe from this president because he tends to make things up. he obviously wants to make himself look good in this

interview in front of maggie haberman, an interview that i think he requested, right, with the publisher. it was supposed to be off the record and the publisher insisted it wasn't going to be off the record. it's hard to know. every once in a while, every six months or so he does these kinds of interviews with the "washington post," "the new york times." but, again, anything that comes out of his mouth you have to weigh against his enormous history of just making misstatements. i think the "washington post" has something like 8,000 at this point. so you kind of have to take what he says with a grain of salt. i mean, he talked about the national intelligence chiefs and seemingly made up a story that said they came to him and said that they were misquoted. i mean, that doesn't sound like something that actually happened, but, again, it's donald trump's spin and his, again, odd relationship with the truth. >> you know what's interesting that there was not a lot of -- i think as maggie pointed out last night, she characterized it as not a lot of wiggle room when he was talking about specific

events involving roger stone. he was very clear i never spoke to roger stone about wikileaks, i didn't direct anyone to. that didn't leave jackie a lot of wiggle room there, which normally we would see from the president, sort of pedaling around thing '. >> probably because he doesn't have a lot of wiggle room. that's the only explanation. i mean, you've seen them both try to separate himself from roger stone and say he likes roger stone and roger stone's been with him for a while but he wasn't a campaign adviser which we know isn't true. so it seems like roger stone is someone he's really having trouble figuring out where to position himself from as, you know, roger stone is, again, there today. >> let's just play the sound. i think we skprt change about wikileaks. the reason this is an issue because the indictment that came out against roger stone last week there was a sentence which said that there was a senior trump campaign official that was directed to make contact with roger stone about wikileaks. the question was directed by

whom? and here the president's basically saying not me. listen. >> did you ever talk to him about wikileaks. >> no. >> because that seems to be [ inaudible ]. >> no, i didn't. i never did. >> did you ever tell him or other people to get in touch with him? >> never did. >> i'm so glad we played the audio because the tone is untrumpian. it's calm, very innocent, choir boy style as opposed to usually the president has to flourish. he acc sag rates. is this sincerity or is this trying to slip one by the stormy daniels denials? if if we take the president at his word, if you look at the stone indictment who could hand down that directive from a senior, either trump or manafort. if we take the president's word it's not him. but we never here blanket denials that simply and never in

that tone. >> he also think stone is not going to flip on him. in that interview he talked about how roger stone isn't going to be coeerced into lying about me. he has that confidence of that stone's on his side which perhaps also informs that. >> i will note this. as powerful as maggie is, lying to maggie haberman is not a crime. >> no. >> lying upped oath nder soth o. a lot of things made of this negotiation going ton prevent another shutdown. the president made clear to maggie and peter baker that he doesn't hold out much hope that this bipartisan group of congress people are going to reach an agreement. and i don't necessarily thinks he wants them to reach an agreement. listen to what he says. >> this is your first experience dealing with nancy pelosi having the gavel as the speaker. do you feel that you properly

estimated her strengths? >> do you feel like you underestimated them? >> i've actually always gotten along with her but now i don't think i will anymore. i think that she's hurting the country very badly. i think nancy pelosi's hurting our country very badly by doing what she's doing. and ultimately i think i've set the table very nicely. >> set the table for -- >> i've set the table, i've set the stage for doing what i'm going to do. >> and your going to wait it out? >> i'm going to wait until the 15th. i think it's a waste of time. >> it sounds like he's saying i set the table to just do this myself. >> yeah, you know, one of the things that we're seeing is that the inability of the political class to resolve this question of immigration reform is actually having this background effect of more and more

executive authority being gobbled up. the way that obama chose, and he was doing this to help the dreamers, he grabbed a little bit more executive authority than he had before. now you're going to see trump out to build the wall going the other direction, grab a little bit more authority than he had before and say i'm going to declare a national emergency. when he says i've been setting the table, he's been saying it's an emergency, it's an emergency and having enough of his people say it that he thinks can he go into court and say we've established a record that it's an emergency because we call it an emergency and then have the courts have to decide, you know, do we want to get involved in this or do we want to let the president of the united states use his, quote unquote, emergency powers to do something that congress has expressly decided they don't want to do yet in the is going to cause a constitutional crisis of some kind. what i want to point out in this is notice when you have a big, big problem like this and you cannot get it solved normally, then you begin to see extraordinary actions on part of the executive branch which ultimately hurts the country.

>> but one of the reasons this can't be solved in a conventional manner is because of the president. because no one feels like that anything negotiated inside the house and the senate is going to be accepted by this president. so that in and of itself creates a really -- a tough mission for these congress folks that no one really thinks that they're going to get anything done by the end. zbla what . >> what's amazing, john and i spoke to them yesterday. we spoke to republican and democrat, those 17 seem to be optimist take this something can happen. you have the president saying this was never going to work, i'm going to wait it out for 21 days and drum up support to say this was an emergency. if it was an emergency it would have been declared a long time ago. but you have the lawmakers who are willing to do something, but to your point it's leadership. and nancy pelosi is coming out, too, and saying she's not necessarily all behind this lets find a solution. >> they're not going to come out and say we're inept.

>> no, they're not. but i don't think that they needed to be perhaps as optimistic as we were. >> but we all know what a deal looks like and the far left and far right will be unhappy about it but it will be some form of border security including partial wall for dreamers path to citizenship. that's what a deal looks like. and ann couture will be upset, the far left will be upset, account president actually endors that to help get -- >> that's the real question. >> and we know the answer to that. no. i mean, that was a deal that has been floated and we know that he is mainly looking at ann couture. the president finds himself in this position because he made a promise he could never keep, which is he would build a wall from sea to shining sea, or shina sea he sometimes says, that mexico would pay for it. so now he's going to declare a national mng a national emergency and we'll see what the courts will do. >> we talk to those members before the president spoke.

>> it was. >> and i doubt they would be all un corps and rainbows this morning. >> they might be up for puppies. a shutdown coming but we have puppies. >> yeah. should election day be a federal holiday? some democrats are proposing it but the senate majority leader is calling it a power grab. a reality check next. moderator: this is the chevy equinox. various: beautiful. wow. ooh, this is fancy. moderator: that's the available hd surround vision camera. the top of your car? moderator: mm-hmm. it helps you see dangers around the vehicle. what is that? various: wait, wait, wait, what is that? oh, my...

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senate majority leader mitch mcconnell is facing democratic backlash after criticizing a house proposal to make election day a federal holiday. cnn political analyst john avlon has our reality check. >> if politician cos agree on one thing, it's usually that it's important to go out and vote. that's why senate majority leader mitch mcconnell drew sfier and fury for mocking a house bill designed to open up our elections and increase voter participation. >> speaker pelosi and her colleagues are advertising it say package of urgent measures to save american democracy. a power grab that's smelling more and more like exactly what it is. >> election day is a power grab, but not like blocking a vote on

the supreme court nominee. it's a power grab by the people to hold their politicians accountable. and this is often an uphill battle because of the obstacles intentionally put in their way. thee range from the rigged system of redirecting, the rollback of voter rights act to ar kay yok rules. that's why they seek to make tay federal holiday so more people can go out and vote. but mcconnell doesn't dig this idea. >> a new paid holiday for government workers. just what america needs, another paid holiday and a bunch of government -- >> okay. so two things. first, state workers in mcconnell's native kentucky already get presidential election days off. second, this comes right after mcconnell presided over the longest shutdown in government american history which left hundreds of thousands without pay for weeks. but could it be that mcconnell doesn't want more people to vote because he sees increased participation as an democratic through the? they don't want you to vote if they did we wouldn't vote on a tuesday in november. you ever throw a party on a

tuesday? no. because no one would come. so why else would chicago hold its mayial elections in freezing february? why would georgia close its poll at 7 ppl and kentucky at 6 when many folks are just getting off work? spoiler alert, it's about trying to make attorneyout smaller, more predictable which only further polarizes our politics. you might be asking why did we vote on tuesday? not a crazy question. it was from when farmers needed to take a day and take their horse and wagon into town and back and no one wanted to travel on the sab badge. today those reasons don't apply. this house bill requires other things, redirect commissions and automatic voter registration. mcconnell is calling this the democratic protection act. it's ironic twist given that he voted for lbj in '64 because he very disappointed that gold water voted against the civil

rights bill. while mcconnell has led republicans in the senate, there's been a steady erosion of voting rights. since 2010, no fewer than 25 states have put in place new voting restrictions. we should be making it easier for citizens to vote, not harder. and it shouldn't be a partisan issue. ronald reagan railed against redistricting called the right to vote the crown jewel of american liberties. bottom line, more voting not less is good for america. even republicans. and that's your reality check. >> all right, john, thank you very much. >> a three-year-old boy lost in the woods found alive nearly three days after disappearing. cnn follows the heroic rescuers as they retrace their steps. that's next. ♪ ♪

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and if we are ever late, we'll give you a automatic twenty dollar credit. my name is antonio and i'm a technician at comcast. we're working to make things simple, easy and awesome. . sources telling cnn a second summit between president trump and kim jong-un is being planned for the end of this month in vietnam. the coastal city is the likely location. the president claims progress is being made toward the denuclearization of the korean peninsula. earlier this week the director of national testified north korea is inlikely to give up its nuclear weapons. a letter containing a white powder was sent to the set of empire days before one of the show's star jussie smollett was allegedly attacked. chicago police say it was received last week at the studios where empire is film.

the powder turned out to be aspirin. smollett said two attackers assaulted him and called him homophobic and racist slurs as he returned from an early morning trip to a sandwich shop. a 3-year-old boy in north carolina missing for nearly three days in the rain and freezing temperatures found alive. we're introduced to the officers who went beyond the call of duty to find him. >> reporter: deep in this swath of pine trees amongst thorns and briers a lost little boy was found. >> it took some force to get him out of it. i actually had to pull him out of the vegetation. >> reporter: against all odds, 3-year-old casey hathaway was rescued. 55 hours after he went missing from his great grandmother's north carolina home. it was a tip that led greer to this very spot at the edge of the woods. >> and that's when we heard him say mama. >> reporter: clear as day? >> clear as day. >> reporter: greer is one of

hundreds of local and federal responders who tirelessly searched for casey through rain. >> he's cold, he's hungry. >> reporter: the massive operation was under the command of craven county sheriff chip hughes. >> we started looking at the percentages of what is the chance a 3-year-old child in the elements with the wildlife that's in the area, bears, coyote tie coyotes is going to survive this in the odds were not in our favor. >> reporter: it's a sthaerth captivated the nation and brought a community together. >> when they showed up yo you could see the look of determination, you know, casey is -- he belongs to all of us now. >> reporter: all the while hughes promised casey's famil d he'd bring their boy home. >>s that was a tall promise and we were determined to stay till the end.

when the rescuers pulled up and the doors open and i saw this child there, big brown eyes, it was tear jerking. this is when we made good on our promise. i would have stayed out there an entire year just to make that happen. >> reporter: casey's body temperature was low but he only had strachs. he told his parents he bepre befriended a bear. >> we're thankful that you came out to search for casey. >> reporter: greer will never for get that gratitude. he keeps this picture in his office a gift from casey's family of greer and the little boy he saved. >> i think everybody at some point in time was expecting a real bad ending for this and for the ending to be so good, i mean, little boy's at home because of the efforts that everybody did here. >> reporter: a reminder of what he humbly calls a miracle. cnn, craven county north carolina. >> it's a reminder these officers who are out there

working day and night, they have kids too. >> absolutely. >> they feel this. >> yeah, they get it. >> and you knows what's nice too, sometimes you see as days drag on you never fwoowant to st out loud but your heart drops. and to have this 3-year-old boy safe and sound now, it's the good news we all need. >> that's why you don't give up. he spent four months behind bars as a political prisoner in venezuela. now is he free talking about the humanitarian crisis there as he prepares to meet with vice president pence later today. i am not for just treating my symptoms... (ah-choo) i am for shortening colds when i'm sick. with zicam. zicam is completely different. unlike most other cold medicines... ...zicam is clinically proven to shorten colds. i am a zifan for zicam. oral or nasal. means they won't hike your rates over one mistake. see, liberty mutual doesn't hold grudges. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise their rates because of their first accident. switch and you could save $782

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the interim president of venezuela refusing military support as the nation's embattled dictator is facing growing pressure to step down. joining us now, a former political prisoner under the

maduro regime. good to have you with us. as we look at this, in an interview with christiane amanpour he didn't rule out military support. you have been meeting with lawmakers and you are set to meet today with vice president pence. is that something you plan to ask for? >> first of all, as a former political prisoner, thank you for this window for the venezuelan people. it's important to state facts here. president guaido is the legitimate and democratic president of venezuela. this is not something that occurred spontaneously. in 2015, over 14 million venezuelans voted for the national assembly. on may 20 of 2018 the elections weren't declared legitimate by the international community, the venezuelan people or the

american states, a community of nations that are democratic. because maduro, the election wasn't legitimate. a constitutional process took place, like any other. imagine in the u.s. if the president and vice president resigned, who would take over? the speaker of the house. what happened in venezuela is similar. there were illegitimate elections, no president, no vice president, and the speaker of the house in venezuela, juan guaido, was declared president. he didn't self declare. this is important that we always ask the media outlets. the national assembly with a unanimous resolution asked him to assume the articles 233, 333 and 350 of the constitution. he's the legitimate and democratic president. this is very clear and something we have to make sure the american people know. these are the facts. that's why the u.s. and right now over 30 countries following closely spain, france, germany and other european unions

recognize president guaido as the legitimate president. that's what we are trying to convey. regarding your question which i think is important, i think the framing of what's going on in venezuela is not this reasoning that it's an intervention or international community trying to intervene in our affairs. this was put forward by and for the venezuelan people. what the international committee is trying to do is support the agenda to liberate the venezuelan people for forces like china, cuba and russia which have been interfering in our affairs. president guaido has stated what our agenda is ceasing of the usurpation, create a transitional government and last but not least create free and fair elections because president guaido has not self-declared. he's clear this is an interim presidency for the purpose of

creating free and fair elections for the people to decide. there is a clear -- now. maduro using repression and force and president guaido who has people on the streets with him and the democratic community. >> i want to get a clear answer from you. when you meet with vice president pence today, what specifically are you asking for in terms of the united states and does it involve the u.s. military? >> we met with vice president pence a couple days ago. what was asked in the meeting was something important. first, humanitarian assistance. president guaido asked for the u.s. and other nations to ask for assistance that maduro has denied the crisis exists. we ask for full support for sanctions to those individuals who have stolen a lot of money from the venezuelan people and to continue to work with the u.s. partners and allies to

create pressure on maduro to support the agenda of president guaido. that was put on the table. that's what was asked and we'll continue to ask. >> guaido, in his "new york times" op-ed called for unity in venezuela and alpointed out tha key to support is military support. he said he's had secret meetings. have you been a part of those meetings and is there a sense that the military is coming to his side? we are not seeing publicly generals jumping over to guaido's side. that can be key, as you know, moving forward. >> it's clear to differentiate and not put everyone in the military in the same situation. venezuelan militaries are venezuelans and they live the same dire situations. there's been a lot of public support. i can name a couple. national guardsmen support president guaido. even police forces have publicly

supported president guaido. what we are asking is for the venezuelan military to uphold the constitution. that's all. to uphold the constitution, recognize president guaido and start this transition process. that's what we were asking -- to respect the constitution and restore the constitutional order that's been ruptured for the last two years by the maduro regime. that process, by the way, is occurring and we expect to see more and more public stances very soon. >> we'll continue to follow. appreciate you joining us francisco marquez. >> thank you for your time. we have breaking news on the 2020 race. let's get to it. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >> good morning and welcome to your "new day." it is friday, february 1st. 8:00 in the east. erica hill is here with me. alisyn is off. we have breaking news this morning. the field getting bigger.

moments ago new jersey senator cory booker made it official. he is running for president. the announcement comes on the first day of black history month. senator booker spoke moments ago on the tom joiner morning show. >> i want everyone to know i am running for president of the united states of america. we live in a nation where people are beginning to lose faith in what we can do together. folks feel left out. folks are feeling left behind. i think too many people are beginning to think that the things that are tearing us apart are stronger than the things holding us together. >> with booker now in the democratic field has grown to ten candidates. let's get to rebecca buck live near booker's home in newark with more on the breaking details. >> as you mentioned, he announced on the first day of black history month a lot of symbolism there.

tells you about the audience booker will be targeting, the voters he will be targeting in the race for president as well as the story that he's going to be telling about himself. his family's own struggle to overcome prejudice in the aftermath of the civil rights movement and how that's changed his life, as he said. it led him to where he is today. his message is of unity and optimism. talking about bringing people together for a common purpose again in america. i want you to listen to part of the announcement video from earlier today. >> i believe that we can build a country where no one is forgotten. no one is left behind, where parents can put food on the table with good paying jobs and good benefits in every neighborhood, where our criminal justice system keeps us safe instead of shuffling more children into cages and coffins,

where we see the faces of our leaders on television and feel pride, not shame. it is not a matter of can we. it's a matter of do we have the collective will, the american will? i believe we do. together, we will channel our common pain back into our common purpose. together, america, we will rise. i'm cory booker and i'm running for president of the united states of america. >> as you mentioned this is an incredibly crowded, competitive democratic field that cory booker is entering into today. the question is how will he compete, differentiate himself from the rest of the candidates. one thing he mentioned in the video is that he's the only senator who lives in an inner city. newark, just down the street from us here. this is